Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 29 - 30 rig in

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, October 29, 2016

Morning 63 Degrees, Wind S at 2 to 3 Mph, Humidity 92%, partly sunny.

Afternoon 89 Degrees, Wind SSE at 3 to 14 Mph, Humidity 42%, partly sunny.

  

More rig modules came in today along with tank truck loads of “drilling mud”. Plenty of pickup trucks in and out rig workers and other support services. All these modules and the “tower” has not come to the gate yet. 

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, October 30, 2016
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind SE at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 84%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 8 Degrees, Wind  at  to  Mph, Humidity %, .

Eleven more loads (tank trailers) of drilling “mud” they are not here long, about twenty minutes to unload, in and out along with other traffic of pickups. Ten truck loads of drilling pipe, large diameter. Some of the rig transport tractors went out “bobtail” to get a trailer from another site returned and put another trailer on that taking away two trailers, a five axle trailer hauling a four axle trailer. The tower did not have a trailer but was using a dolly and that was transported out on a flat bed trailer. So I think the rig is here. Two trailer truck loads of diesel fuel was delivered to power the generator and hydraulic system.

tower coming in the gate

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 26 - 28

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Morning 66 Degrees, Wind E at 2 to 4 Mph, Humidity 84%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind ESE at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 26%, mostly sunny.
 
Busy day for me frak tanks, housing trailers with support equipment and pumps being brought in today. More “lookers” and my usual daily vehicles coming and going checking in the oil wells already producing on the ranch. Most of the lookers will be workers on the drill rig. They were given directions and are checking where the directions take them. With these housing trailers (temporary) and skid trailers we will be having “sleep overs” or workers on site twenty-four hours a day.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Thursday, October 27, 2016
Morning 63 Degrees, Wind ESE at 3 to 7 Mph, Humidity 90%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 89 Degrees, Wind variable at 5 to 11 Mph, Humidity 33%, Scattered Clouds.
 
Very busy day with all sorts of vehicles coming and going, paying back those easy days earlier this month. Fifteen “big” trucks throughout the day a three of them had trailers, with seven axles. These were just the cranes three of them to assemble the drill rig when it arrives. I heard the drill rig has been “stacked” parked somewhere in Texas awaiting a site to drill. That explains some of the lookers that are coming here to see about their work. There are other workers for the water well and the frak pond construction. I have not been able to get any pictures as my hands are full with the gate, an I-Pad and memory, not remembering to get out my phone camera. I also have to ensure the vehicles do not hit the gate.

Word is out the rig is here and salespersons are now coming to try and sell their company’s service or product here at the site. My wife stayed up this morning and got our shopping done for the week. We are finding the shopping in the week better, the shelf’s are full, not wholes where things were in the stores. Both Walmart (not a supercenter) and H E B are small town stores with a limited selection.

Rig module coming in the gate

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Friday, October 28, 2016
Morning 58 Degrees, Wind SE at 4 to 5 Mph, Humidity 89%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind SE at 4 to 8 Mph, Humidity 34%, Scattered Clouds.
 
Very busy day with rig parts or modules being brought in by the truckload.  Some are also wide loads but all are heavy as just the trailers have four or five axles. Anyone can tell the rig had been out of service because some of the module stiil have weeds on them after being loaded on the trailers.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 22 -25 trailer

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, October 22, 2016
Morning 51 Degrees, Wind ENE at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 68%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 82 Degrees, Wind SSE at 3 to 8 Mph, Humidity 23%, sunny.

Start of our weekend was later today as the first in was after six-thirty but it is still dark out. So far I am expecting a nice slow day.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, October 23, 2016
Morning 63 Degrees, Wind E at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 78%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 86 Degrees, Wind S at 5 to 12 Mph, Humidity 31%, mostly sunny.

We had a few more in today along with the expected every day vehicles. The new ones brought in culverts and a digging machine. These culverts are the start of the oil well drill operation.    

After everyone was out for the day and there was enough daylight for pictures I went down to the pad for these pictures. The machine and the bit used to dig the hole for the culvert. The six culverts are in the ground.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Monday, October 24, 2016
Morning 69 Degrees, Wind ESE at 3 to 5 Mph, Humidity 78%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind ESE at 5 to 10 Mph, Humidity 40%, partly sunny.
 
it’s Monday and the first in was here early ringing the in alarm as he drove up to the gate as I was going to sit down to breakfast.

We got out voter request for mail in ballet today, I thought it was going to be the ballet. So that created a stir to get that back in the mail hoping we can get the actual ballet bat in time for the election.  I got that back to the post office in Asherton
One housing trailer came in today so it will start moving soon.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Tuesday, October 25, 2016
Morning 64 Degrees, Wind WSW at 3 to 5 Mph, Humidity 90%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind SE at 7 to 10 Mph, Humidity 35%, mostly sunny.
 
Along with my daily vehicles there were a few “lookers” (checking out) where the “rig is going to be located. After the rig comes they will be workers here.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 22 - 24 culverts in

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, October 22, 2016
Morning 51 Degrees, Wind ENE at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 68%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 82 Degrees, Wind SSE at 3 to 8 Mph, Humidity 23%, sunny.

Start of our weekend was later today as the first in was after six-thirty but it is still dark out. So far I am expecting a nice slow day.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, October 23, 2016
Morning 63 Degrees, Wind E at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 78%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 86 Degrees, Wind S at 5 to 12 Mph, Humidity 31%, mostly sunny.

We had a few more in today along with the expected every day vehicles. The new ones brought in culverts and a digging machine. These culverts are the start of the oil well drill operation.    

Bit used to bore the hole for the culvert

After everyone was out for the day and there was enough daylight for pictures I went down to the pad for these pictures. The machine and the bit used to dig the hole for the culvert. The six culverts are in the ground.

Machine to turn the bit

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Monday, October 24, 2016
Morning 69 Degrees, Wind ESE at 3 to 5 Mph, Humidity 78%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind ESE at 5 to 10 Mph, Humidity 40%, partly sunny.
 

One culvert in the ground

It’s Monday and the first vehicle in was here early ringing the in alarm as he drove up to the gate as I was going to sit down to breakfast.

Row of culverts in the ground

We got out voter request for mail in ballet today, I thought it was going to be the ballet. So that created a stir to get that back in the mail hoping we can get the actual ballet back in time for the election. We are using a temporary address in Cotulla and the mail was ferried to us today. I got that back to the post office in Asherton and went into Carrizo Springs for a prescription and a few things from the grocery store. I brought back Mexican for our dinner.

Machine & bit

While I was gone one housing trailer convoy came in so the biggest activity of the day my wife handled while I was away from the gate, life happens. For me the gate day was slow as I was expecting more action for a Monday.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 18 - 21

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Morning 74 Degrees, Wind SE at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 87%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 98 Degrees, Wind SSE at 6 to 13 Mph, Humidity 25%, mostly sunny.
 
We are expecting the drill rig to start coming in on Friday so that will be busy and for the next month or more. We are enjoying the slow time now.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Wednesday, October 19, 2016
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind SSE at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 91%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 97 Degrees, Wind SE at 4 to 8 Mph, Humidity 34%, sunny.
 
The contractor working the pad as cut some of the workers as there are getting into the job completion phase. Employees came in and then a supervisor then a couple of the workers that are normally here all day came out done, so that pad job is finishing  here at this site. A grinder or bush hog was brought in to clear another area near the frak pond. Later another truck was going out told me tomorrow a water well rig will move in, eight loads.

After all the vehicles were out today I took a ride in Tan Jan to see the new oil well pad location that was build while we have been here at the gate. The sticks in the ground are where the wells will be drilled.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Thursday, October 20, 2016
Morning 75 Degrees, Wind E at 4 to 6 Mph, Humidity %, partly sunny.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind NNE at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 49%, partly sunny with a afternoon rain shower 0.01 of an inch.
 
Today four loads came in for the water well drill job with four more to come. Otherwise just daily ins and out here thru the gate with the big work yet to come. We heard today the oil drill rig will come in another week on the twenty-seventh of the month.

Of course we got that after coming back from grocery shopping. As we were expecting tomorrow to be busy with the drill rig move in that is not going to happen for a week now. The stores were well stocked as we have found the stores not in the best of shape when doing our shopping on the weekend. Foot traffic in the stores was even less than a weekend shopping trip. This is the first day there were a few ins and outs for my wife here at this gate.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Friday, October 21, 2016
Morning 55 Degrees, Wind NNW at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 60%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 78 Degrees, Wind N at 4 to 9 Mph, Humidity 28%, sunny.
 
Our day started early as our first in this morning just after six, coolest morning we have had here after the small shower yesterday. The rest of morning was slower (fewer thru the gate). More trucks in today along with the water well drill rig and that will start operating Monday.

Latter in the Afternoon traffic picked up with some late deliveries and some “lookers” checking where the drill rig is going to be placed on the ranch. They will be coming in for the drill operation. The I-pad gave me a couple of problems in the morning when I went to save the record of an in it just went off instead of saving the record so I reentered the information from memory without pictures. Latter in the afternoon the I-pad went blank again and I had to sign in again but it took four times to get it wright.

Sunrise

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 14 - 17

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Friday, October 14, 2016
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind E at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 85%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 95 Degrees, Wind SE at 7 to 10 Mph, Humidity 34%, Scattered Clouds.
One more day of the caleche trucks finishing in the early afternoon today. Now the nice part first a pickup truck came that I signed in to the site and talking with him he told me two more trucks are behind him and they are going in to fix a gate. I replied no it is right here and with that he pulled over and I showed him the sag the gate has.

After the other trucks arrived sizing up the job of fixing the gate the three men proceeded to take action cutting the top hinge and re welding it while the backhoe held the gate at the right height to properly engage the locking pin. Finishing up the last caleche truck was leaving the gate. Now when the drill rig is brought in I can open both gates allowing the long five axle trailers more room to maneuver thru the gate onto the site.

My wife was up from her day sleep early and made the trip into Carrizo Springs to grocery shop. It being only a twenty-two-mile trip into “town” she was up for that. Those fifty mile each way trips for groceries was not her cup of tea. The whole trip was less than two and a half hours even learning the store’s layout.

Looking into Busters gate

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Saturday, October 15, 2016
Morning 74 Degrees, Wind ESE at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 87%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 96 Degrees, Wind S at 8 to 18 Mph, Humidity 35%, sunny.
 
Ah Saturday, that weekend feeling. Low volume of vehicles coming and going from our gate after three days of caleche trucks. College football, Florida State wins over Wake Forest.


Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Sunday, October 16, 2016
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind SE at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 87%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 95 Degrees, Wind variable at 4 to 6 Mph, Humidity 47%, Scattered Clouds.
 
A nice weekend Sunday with low gate traffic, NFL football and NASCAR what could be better. That was all the activity I could handle.

Sunrise

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Monday, October 17, 2016
Morning 74 Degrees, Wind SE at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 87%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 97 Degrees, Wind S at 6 to 9 Mph, Humidity 34%, sunny.
 
With all the material in for the new well pad they are finishing the surface. There are other completed wells inside this gate and pipelines and compressor facility for the natural gas collection. These wells and facilities get regular “visits” every day. So every morning I get a stream of gaugers and facilities “checkers” that are here for a short time and are gone unless there is a problem and they return to correct that. The equipment have alarms that send a signal when something is out of order and the gauger responds to that. Sometimes they have to call in help and other support to correct the problem.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 10 - 13

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Monday, October 10, 2016
Morning 59 Degrees, Wind variable, calm to  Mph, Humidity 77%, overcast.
Afternoon 87 Degrees, Wind ENE at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 27%, sunny.

I had an average type day with vehicles coming and going thru the gate. There was a Boarder Patrol helicopter circling the area to our south and pickup truck driving around but that’s all I saw. In bout ten days there will be a drill rig move in as they are preparing the pad now with construction equipment.

Sunrise

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Morning 60 Degrees, Wind ESE at  to 3 Mph, Humidity 77%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 91 Degrees, Wind N calm to 2 Mph, Humidity 24%, .mostly sunny

Pad construction is continuing with minimum number of vehicles in tody. Tomorrow will be very busy with belly dump trucks coming and going delivering caleche for the well pad base. There are two large gates but only one is operable now so truck will have to wait if they arrive at the same time (or too close to call).

Looking out the gate

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Morning 61 Degrees, Wind SE at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 88%, overcast.
Afternoon 91 Degrees, Wind SE at 2 to 5 Mph, Humidity 28%, mostly sunny.

A very busy day that started early with equipment operators arriving before sunup. Also arriving was a representative of the caleche company that was here for the first round of trucks coming into the site. And they just kept coming and going all day. This amount of trucks (240) requires the road to be watered to keep the dust down and that first watering did not come until late in the morning but continued the rest of the day. These belly dump trucks were coming until after six.

Now the best part is I did not have to log them in and out. The caleche trucks have load tickets and that was used as their record of entering the site. But I did have to watch for the other stray vehicles. another important part was to ensure they did not hit the fixed gate creating more problems. as they turned to enter the driveway being long vehicle I made sure they were close to the fence (the truck’s right side) before entering the gate. Kind of winding course close to the edge of the dirt road and  along vehicle to boot to make sure the trailer wheels miss the fixed gate. I was outside all day except for a few brakes, in the early part of the morning the overcast was nice but that burned off eailer than I wanted it to so I caught a lot of sun today.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Thursday, October 13, 2016
Morning 77 Degrees, Wind SE at 4 to 6 Mph, Humidity 88%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 96 Degrees, Wind SE at 6 to 10 Mph, Humidity 35%, Scattered Clouds.

Another long day outside with caleche trucks coming and going thru the gate. The representative did not come today so I was by myself all day, I did not expect anything else as once the drivers had made a run they are expected to know where they are going. Yesterday and today there were trucks added to the “run” with them following another truck. They kept coming later than yesterday. I did take more breaks today as they mostly new to keep right to clear the fixed gate.

Busters Gate Catarina, TX - Oct 7 - 9

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Friday, October 7, 2016
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind E at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 94%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 95 Degrees, Wind E at 7 to 12 Mph, Humidity 40%, Scattered Clouds with a rain shower.

The directions I was given were good but it is the first time and in the dark of night following the paved road and it goes to dirt just keep going on. Eight miles later there are two overhead lights and the gate is to the right. There were a couple of other land marks given that were good (feeling) along the route.

The guard that was there was leaving the site and the guard company needed fill ins until Monday. It started as a slow day but being Friday there was traffic during the mid morning thru early afternoon before slowing down. Six to six was my shift but lasted to seven as the relief got there as soon as he could as he had his own issues. Then there was a water truck tat was coming in just as I was trying to shift change which I handled after seeing no one for more than two hours.


JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX -Saturday, October 8, 2016
Morning 65 Degrees, Wind NW at  to  Mph, Humidity 84%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind variable at 4 to 7 Mph, Humidity 43%, sunny.

We took a drive to Catarina, TX about thirty-six miles from the RV park here that is where we will meet the coordinator. From there about five miles more to the gate site. After checking that route we continued on to Carrizo Springs for shopping so the grocery run is donw before going to the gate. The route to Carrizo Springs took us thru Asherton where we had a gate in 2015 and where we turnoff to another gate south of Carrizo Springs.


JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Sunday, October 9, 2016
Morning 67 Degrees, Wind NE at 7 to 8 Mph, Humidity 84%, mostly sunny.
We got Buster packed up pretty quick as we did not put much out s we were only straying a short time, but we did stay longer than we expected when we pulled in to the RV park. We expected to go to San Antonio for the slide topper to be replaced.
I did top off Buster’s water tank as we make sure the water is full before going to new gate as you never know for sure what the conditions are.

Buster at Catarina Gate 

Busters Gate Catarina, TX
Afternoon 87 Degrees, Wind E at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 15%, sunny.
It was a short trip of only thirty-five miles on Interstate ten, FM 133 and US 83 we are two miles off US 83. The first order of the plan was how to position Buster and with that the generator trailer was placed in position. Now start connections and leveling Buster. There were some workers inside that we let out but start logging vehicles tomorrow morning.

I had to position Buster to not block the road

afternoon looking down the road deer on the right

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Oct 2 - 6

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Sunday, October 2, 2016
Morning 67 Degrees, Wind E at 4 to 5 Mph, Humidity 76%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind SE at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 38%, mostly sunny.
I failed to note in my last post computer problems, I had this past week. Wednesday there was a Windows system update over night and things had changed, settings and sizes of how the display show things to me. Saturday morning another update this time it wants me to reboot the computer. After a bit I do that and I am on the computer doing something else I leave it and come back later and it is frozen no response to inputs from me. So I power off and turn the computer back on and it never completes to a desk top screen. I re do the cycle several times with the same level of completion. I remove power and allow the battery to rundown trying again and it still does not complete to desk top screen. I repeat this again and this time I get a desk top screen and I have not powered off again.

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Monday, October 3, 2016
Morning 68 Degrees, Wind E at 4 to 8 Mph, Humidity 87%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 91 Degrees, Wind E at 7 to 8 Mph, Humidity 30%, partly sunny.
Puttering around Buster day my wife is trying to stay on the night shift sleeping schedule. We are waiting for two things a new gate and the bedroom slide topper. I had ordered that on the twenty-first of last month with an expected delivery day of October fifth. No word on delivery yet. With that I ordered mail to be delivered here t the RV park.

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind E at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 91%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 97 Degrees, Wind S at 7 to 10 Mph, Humidity 35%, sunny.
Yesterday we had mail sent to us here at the RV park otherwise we are just doing the waiting game for the slide topper to arrive at the RV service we use.   

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Morning 75egrees, Wind SSE at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 90%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 92 Degrees, Wind SSE at 9 to 10 Mph, Humidity 39%,partly sunny .
  Do nothing day



JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Thursday, October 6, 2016
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind E at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 93%, overcast.
Afternoon 94 Degrees, Wind SSE at 10 to 11 Mph, Humidity 36%, overcast.

In the morning I called on the slide out topper no parts yet. After that I got a call for a gate assignment in Carrizo Springs area that we will take on Sunday. Our mail came today so I was sorting thru that.

Mid afternoon I got a call asking me to gate guard tomorrow working out of my car for twelve hours. I am only hanging out so why not

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Sept 30 - Oct 1

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Friday, September 30, 2016
Morning 63 Degrees, Wind NNE at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 70%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 87 Degrees, Wind NE at 6 to 7 Mph, Humidity 30%, sunny.

Neither one of us slept good last night, the best part no alarm to get up me up early this morning. What do we do with our day. There are very few options as there is nothing close by Cotulla. I did want to get some new windshield Reflextix foil. My options are San Antonio one hundred or Laredo  sixty miles. We took the shorter option never have taken that drive before down interstate thirty-five. So it was off to Laredo Home Depot no they do not carry Reflextix foil (they do in San Antonio) in this store then lunch-dinner at Texas Road House for steak then Lowes Home Improvement they had Reflextix foil what I wanted. Any trip does involve a Walmart and a H E B before going home. Gasoline in this area ($1.959) is not as low as Rio Grand City ($1.769). We were back safely to Buster before dark. There is a boarder patrol check station coming back north that all traffic has to stop and declare their citizenship. On our trip south we noticed the backup of traffic to enter was about a half mile but was shorter on our way north. Heavy truck traffic both ways as Laredo is a port of entry from Mexico

JD's Nueces River Park - Cotulla, TX - Saturday, October 1, 2016
Morning 64 Degrees, Wind E at 7 to 8 Mph, Humidity 73%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 83 Degrees, Wind variable at 5 to 6 Mph, Humidity 36%, partly sunny.

Cut and fit, that’s what I did today. Cut and fit the Reflextix foil to Buster’s windshield.
I also trimmed the front shelf I made for Buster’s dashboard, as the front is slopped down. I made the shelf years ago level for Sox and Merry our cats to lay by the window getting sun. It is also convenient to place things on. But a sloped dashboard causes everything to slide to the glass. When I made the shelf I did not allow for the foil sizing the shelf right up to the glass. When we were last at Atascosa RV Park I did trim the shelf but I took too small of a cut. While at the gate again as we were putting and taking down the Reflextix foil there was still not enough clearance. You know measure once cut twice, better to go small and do it again.